


Uranus is Basically a Giant Ball of Gas

by angeldeductions



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Bullying, Kidlock, Really lame space jokes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-15
Updated: 2014-04-15
Packaged: 2018-01-19 12:02:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1468858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angeldeductions/pseuds/angeldeductions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The crowd had finally left so John quickly replaced the blue and yellow planets in their respective places, but not before Sally Donovan and Philip Anderson got to him. They were known to most as bullies, to Sherlock as idiots. John knew he wouldn't get away unscathed, pushing his fringe out of his eyes and trying to look tall.</p>
<p>“What’s that you got there Johnny, Uranus? Or is it Sherlock’s?” Sally sneered, gaining a booming laugh from Anderson and tepid giggles from  those close enough to hear the petty joke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Uranus is Basically a Giant Ball of Gas

“Alright class, put all the planet models back in the box, then you can go have lunch. It’s raining cats and dogs so everybody stay inside.” Mr.Lestrade announced, rubbing his hands together excitedly at the thought of food. John knew their teacher had chocolate cake for lunch, Sherlock had deducted it, seeing a brown smudge beneath his jaw from frosting gone astray, concluding that Mr.Lestrade was trying to work things out with his wife again .

John looked to his best friend beside him, Sherlock’s dark curls had fallen in front of his face as he read ‘Intro to Calculus’, the lesson on space likely long deleted from the archives of his ‘Mind Palace’. It was still early days, Sherlock said it was more of a manor than a palace but it would grow in time, eventually holding every drop of information he deemed useful, stored away until it was needed, never forgotten. John didn't have a clue what calculus was, but he’d seen the funny S’s in one of Harry’s books at home. Knowing Sherlock was lost to the world John fixed his jumper and gathered up the tiny Uranus and Saturn on the table, making Saturn’s rings turn around the small dusty yellow ball.

John was in no great rush to get his lunch, his plain old ham and cheese sandwiches would still taste just as boring in another minute, so he joined the back of the queue, not wanting to get involved in the mosh pit at the front, Jim pushing everyone around, trying to get in front. John watched as Molly Hooper walked up to the teacher’s desk, her hands wrapped around her stomach. She tugged on Mr.Lestrade’s sleeve. “Mr.L , I don’t feel so good.” she mumbled, her brow furrowed and pigtails drooped, a representation of how she felt.

“Not my division Molly, go on up to the nurse.” he called out to the clever girl with short blonde hair “Mary you go with her, make sure she’s ok.” Mary skipped up to Molly, flashing John a wink that made him flush red like Mars. She wrapped her arm around Molly and walked her out the door.

The crowd had finally left so John quickly replaced the blue and yellow planets in their respective places, but not before Sally Donovan and Philip Anderson got to him. They were known to most as bullies, to Sherlock as idiots. John knew he wouldn't get away unscathed, pushing his fringe out of his eyes and trying to look tall.

“What’s that you got there Johnny, Uranus? Or is it Sherlock’s?” Sally sneered, gaining a booming laugh from Anderson and tepid giggles from those close enough to hear the petty joke.

"Leave me alone." John sighed, trying to sidestep away from the duo but was blocked by Anderson. John steeled himself from the next comment, making a valiant effort to give Anderson a Sherlock like glare.

"Oh a bit touchy about your boyfriend are we now Johnny? Did you know that Uranus is basically a giant ball of gas? You should probably lay off the beans." Anderson retaliated in a condescending tone, despite being almost a whole year younger than John. 

John could put up with the jokes made about him, but he would not stand for some stupid bullies making fun of Sherlock. John went into what Sherlock called his 'angry hedgehog stance' ,back straight,chest puffed, shoulders proud, eyes narrowed threateningly, the perfect soldier pose but he was ready to fight if pushed. "I. Said. Leave. Me. Alone." John huffed out, punctuating each word for effect. With that he shouldered Anderson aside and scarpered away from Sally's clawing grip grabbing for his jacket. 

By the time John made it back to his table, Sherlock had finished his book and was looking across the room, periodically scribbling in his small black notebook he used for his 'experiments' . Sensing the inevitable question from John, Sherlock began in a voice far too deep for a 9 year old,"I slipped some fungus into Mike's sandwiches, it's totally harmless before you start, but does cause a short period of itching and localised rash on the face. I told him, it was 'cooties'. " Sherlock scoffed at the ridiculous word, "I want to investigate the social implications of disease among children." Sherlock never considered himself a child, nobody did, he had been labeled around school as a psychopath which he quickly corrected to 'highly functioning sociopath'.

John followed Sherlock’s gaze, seeing the rest of the class gathered around the large round table in the middle of the room, eating their lunch and chatting like normal. All except for Mike, who was obviously being excluded and was furiously scratching his jaw raw, like a dog with fleas. Under usual circumstances John would have at least berated Sherlock about unknowingly testing on people, but he was furious and frustrated at the daily snide remarks and jokes by Donovan and Anderson. Instead he sat in silence, fuming internally for not being able to defend himself.

Ten minutes had passed before Sherlock noticed the absence of John's usual chatter about this or that or God knows what. Sherlock had grown accustomed to it over the 6 years he had known John, it was a second type of silence to him, background noise that although could be desperately annoying, brought comfort to Sherlock all the same. John had been particularly quiet all lunch, hadn't even scolded him about the fungus.

He looked at John out of the corner of his eye. What he saw assured him he actually had a heart because in that very moment it broke, a very physical pain spreading through his chest. John looked like a puppy that had just been kicked, his head hung, blue eyes staring with great concentration at the cuffs of his jumper, worrying the wool between his short fingers. John never purposefully damaged his jumpers, they were like a second skin to him.

Sherlock had only ever seen John this distressed once before, the first day of school. Sherlock had walked into the classroom, school wasn't new to him, he had been held back a year in the hopes of 'developing his social skills'. That backfired tremendously, these children were younger and more stupid that the previous year, it was a miracle he hadn't staged an unfortunate accident within the first week. As he hung up his long coat the rest of the class were pushing each other around, fighting over some stupid toy. All but one. John Watson sat in the corner, underneath the coat rack, shielding himself from the view of others. His jumper sleeves were too long and covered his hands which he had balled up inside of them, tugging on the wool more. Sherlock was intrigued, instantly wanting to know everything about this strange boy. He could tell the what, how, why about anyone but he wanted to know the who. Who was John Watson? What was the story behind him? What made him tick? It started with with a firm handshake and an introduction, John standing to attention, showing his military upbringing. From there they clicked, total opposites that complemented each other perfectly, like north and south poles in a magnet, binding themselves together. Looking at him now Sherlock vowed to destroy whatever made his John feel like this.

John felt Sherlock’s eyes boring into him, noticing the lack of conversation against all hope. He tried not to look upset, be the soldier his father was, but he could feel his face getting hotter every second, his breaths starting to falter knowing he’d been noticed. It was like his first day of school all over again, trying to remain invisible but the budding detective caught him out every time, cutting through John’s facade, really seeing him. With a shaky breath John raised his head to meet Sherlock’s gaze, his blue eyes turned to watery pools of defeat.  
“What happened?” Sherlock rumbled, voice full of care and emotion John had never heard before. He tried to put his hand on John’s shoulder but backed out at the last second, not fully ready for that level of compassion.

John fisted his hands in his hair, taking his time to exhale. “It’s nothing Sherlock really. Just Anderson and Donovan making stupid jokes like every other bloody day. Don’t worry about it, go back to your experiment.”

The older boy’s light eyes turned to ice, appalled at John’s disregard for himself. Sherlock shot Sally and Philip a death glare, grabbing John’s wrist and hoisting him to his feet. Sherlock stormed over to the main table with determination in every step, John trying to pull him away fruitlessly. 

Once they were a few feet from the bullies, Anderson looked up, a smirk pulling on his mouth. “Sally look at this, Johnny here has brought his boyfriend to defend him, obviously didn't find our space jokes funny. Hey Sherlock, did you the funny thing about Uranus is that is lies on it’s side? Or at least it will if you two don’t bugger off. ”

Sherlock wiped the remark away like a spot of dust on his coat, his calculating eyes, telling him everything he needed to know. With is barely there smile he began, “ Speaking of planets Anderson, you remind me of Pluto a lot; always hiding behind your big brother Neptune, half the time people forget you exist. Judging by your hastily made lunch, I’m guessing your mother did, too preoccupied with her affair if I’m quite right.” 

A hush fell over the entire room, Sherlock saw John’s jaw drop as Anderson tried and failed to form a coherent sentence. Then he turned to Sally, the glint in his eyes showing he was beginning to enjoy tormenting the tormentors. “ Oh little miss Sally, or should I say little miss Mercury. I bet you’re starting to feel a bit hot, soon your stomach won’t feel too good either. Staying at Molly’s last weekend probably wasn't a great idea, I don’t think that midnight feast was worth getting chicken pox, do you? “ With that, everyone shuffled away from the pair, covering their mouths with their sleeves.

Sherlock turned and grasped John’s wrist, pulling him from where he stood dumbstruck at the display. They sat back into their table, Sherlock extracted a copy of ‘Advanced International Economics’ that had Mycroft’s name on the front in his cursive signature and starting reading. It was just like any other lunchtime but there was no mistaking the brilliant grin gracing Sherlock’s face. Eventually John shook his head is disbelief and took out his ham and cheese sandwiches, muttering a thanks that Sherlock barely heard. From that day nobody bothered the boy and his detective ever again.


End file.
